12 Comments:

That was some awful and inconsistent officiating in Game 7. The awful part is the no call on the clear goalie interference on the Flyers second goal. The inconsistent part is the refs swallow the whistle throughout the third at OT until they call a very weak tripping call.

That's just an awful officiating job in what was probably the leagues most watched game so far in the playoffs. The refs should be sat down the rest of the playoffs at the very least.

Explanation on Philadelphia’s second goal at 9:47 of the second period – Washington's Shaone Morrisonn plays the puck and Philadelphia's Patrick Thoresen lays a legal body check on Morrisonn. No Philadelphia player makes contact with Washington goaltender Cristobal Huet (Rule 69). This play is not reviewable.

I was glad that penalty was called, because the no-call on the trip on Kapanen beforehand was ridiculous. I can understand letting them play, but that one was incredibly egregious. The defenseman fell down, Kapanen went around him and the defenseman tripped him from behind by swinging his stick, preventing a 2-on-1.

As for the controversial 2nd Flyer goal, I'm always of the opinion that if the play is legal by the rulebook, then that's the way it should be called. You can't make up new rules on the fly because a play "looks wrong". If the league finds there should be a rule, they can add it in the offseason (or if it's an emergency, do some sort of memorandum like the Sean Avery situation).

That's not to say there isn't something already there about it, I'm not an expert on that, but if that blurb that feelingkettle posted is indeed part of the rulebook, then the refs called it the right way and the Caps were not the victims of a bad call, just bad luck.

I've never liked the check a player into his goalie and it's legal rule, much as I don't like that it's legal in American football to push a blocker into a punt returner and prevent him from fielding the punt. But it is what it is I guess. I've seen those plays go against my teams plenty of times, as I'm sure you guys have as well.

As for the tripping call, sorry but you can't take a guy's skates out with your stick to prevent him from getting an odd-man rush the other way when you're pressing in at the points. Caps got away with it the first time, refs made the right call the second time. Caps' defense on the ensuing power play was awful. Lupul had way too much time and space to corral the rebound and beat Huet easily. Not sure who blew the coverage on that one, but it wasn't the refs.

The reason that caps fans are upset at the non-goalie interference call is because a very similar thing happened to the caps on april 3rd against tampa bay and it was called goalie interference and it took away a caps goal.

Tomas flieshmann was fighting for position in front and he pushed a tampa player (smaby?) and the tampa player fell into kari ramo. Ramo got up, made a save, and the rebound was put in the net. But the officials called the goal off because flash pushed the guy even though ramo got up and made a save after that.

Tonight thoresen checked morrisonn into huet in a very similar manner (though mo had just played the puck while smaby hadn't) and the resulting collision was worse than what was called on the caps in the tampa game.

Consistency is really my only concern. In OT they don't call a trip on what would be a clear 2 on 1 and then the do call a trip when umberger is skating out alone on a 1 on 2. It's just odd. Not that both weren't penalties, but you either call them or you don't.

To be clear, I'm not blaming the refs on the loss. The caps didn't convert when they had too. But it would be nice if the standard of play was consistently called, whichever way they decide to go (let them play or no touching).

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About Me

James has covered the NHL and the game of hockey since 2004, beginning with this website and continuing with The Globe and Mail (2008-16) and The Athletic. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a long-time radio analyst with TSN and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. as a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.

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